


9. Falling

by Asexual_Ravioli



Series: Mikasa Ackerman X Annie Leonhardt Shorts [5]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8084845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asexual_Ravioli/pseuds/Asexual_Ravioli
Summary: The world is cruel etc., etc...





	

“Annie, get down here. _Now,_ ” Mikasa said with urgency as she stood in the underground tunnel.

Annie eyed her cautiously. Mikasa had her swords at the ready. For her.

“Oh, Mikasa. That really hurts,” she said quietly but with venom. “When was it that you started… looking at me like that?”

“That’s it,” Mikasa said. “I’ll slice you to shreds all over again…” Her voice was caught in a sob, a raw wound. “…Female Titan.”

 

* * *

 

“The worst!” Annie said. “I can’t believe Shadis assigned me to this again.”

Mikasa just laughed.

 _Latrine duty._ It was a quick job between the two of them, but, as the latrine served as relief for the entire 104th, it was _dirty._ She knew Annie hated it. Still, she knew they both felt lucky to have time alone together, even if it stank.

Their relationship was strictly a secret. Most would call them enemies, though lately they had taken to sitting near each other at meals, and they had legendary sparring practices during hand-to-hand combat training. They were slowly circumventing the perceived hatred they had for each other until, eventually, their fellow cadets would see them as friends. Nothing more.

And now that they had made quick work of latrine duty, they held each other in the small wooden shack. Mikasa relished these hidden moments.

“I like you,” Annie said with a serious face.

“Really?” Mikasa said, feigning surprise to annoy her.

“Yeah, smartass,” Annie said. “I like you a whole lot.”

“How much?” Mikasa teased.

“More than latrine duty,” Annie said, giving her a peck on the mouth. “More than Shadis.” Another peck. “More than potato girl likes potatoes.” A long kiss.

“High praise,” Mikasa said after she got her breath back.

 

* * *

 

“I just… I have to go, Mikasa,” Annie said, hoping she’d leave the matter alone.

“But _where_ are you going? It’s the middle of the fucking night.”

They were in a small wooded area near the barracks. It was mostly left alone by the night patrols (aside from when they’d come occasionally to drink and gamble). Annie leaned against a tree, arms folded, head turned away from Mikasa. She couldn’t look her in the eye.

“Don’t ask again. I have to go,” Annie muttered and pushed past Mikasa.

Mikasa stood there dumbfounded. She knew that Annie could be secretive, but this was bizarre.

The next morning, the Military Police came to examine everyone’s 3d maneuver gear after the killing of Hanji’s two titan subjects.

Annie hoped she didn’t appear suspicious as the MPs examined her gear, well, Marco’s gear. She swore she could see Armin eyeing her from the corner of his eye. Her heart was pounding. And where was Mikasa? _There. With Eren. Why is she being questioned by Dok? Don’t tell me they suspect_ her.

Annie shifted uncomfortably, trying her best to not seem like she was staring. Mikasa looked nervous. And rightfully so. She was under the scrutiny of the head of the MPs.

“We have no record of you getting a new gas canister yet here it is,” he said with intensity. “Where were you last night? Can you account for all of your time?”

“Yes,” Mikasa said. “Uh, no. I…”

“Mikasa…” Eren said.

“Where were you?” Dok asked distrustfully.

“I can’t say, sir.” _Idiot,_ Annie thought. _You don’t have to hide our relationship. Not if it’ll cost you your life._

“You…can’t,” he said.

“Sir,” said Dok’s assistant. “I found record of the new gas canister here,” she said, showing him a sheet of paper.

He stared at her, taking her in a moment longer, then said, “Dismissed.”

Mikasa sighed in relief. Just then she caught Annie’s eye. Mikasa read Annie’s expression then quickly turned away.

 _So Mikasa will defend the secrecy of our relationship to the death,_ Annie thought.

“Mikasa,” Annie heard Eren say. “What was that all about?”

Of course. She’d keep it locked away from even her dearest friends. To her left, Annie could feel Armin staring.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a year into their training as soldiers when Mikasa found Annie injured. They were all training in the forest with their 3D maneuver gear when somehow Annie’s right leg had gotten wrapped in one of the metal cords. She hung there by her calf upside down until Mikasa had found her. Somehow Mikasa got her out of the forest where Shadis ordered her to treat Annie at the barracks.

They still saw one another as rivals at this point, but as Mikasa wrapped Annie’s calf in bandages, she felt a tenderness toward Annie that she had never felt before. Annie winced and shifted on the bed.

“Don’t move so much,” Mikasa said softly.

“Don’t wrap it so tight,” Annie said.

“I have to. I know it’s not much, but the bandaging will help.”

“Fuck,” Annie said.

“I have something else that will help. A temporary measure,” Mikasa said.

“A temporary… measure?”

Mikasa went to her own bunk and pulled out a small bottle of whiskey she had found left behind by the night patrols in the grove.

“Here,” she said, unscrewing the cap.

Annie stared in wonder. “You could get in huge trouble for that. I… I could report you.”

“I know you won’t,” Mikasa said. “You’re no snitch.”

“Damn right,” Annie said and took a swig. “Disgusting.”

“I know,” Mikasa said. They took turns drinking until the bottle was empty and they were both drowsy. Mikasa laid down next to Annie. They were on their sides facing each other. “Does it feel better?” Mikasa asked.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

They fell asleep. When Mikasa woke, their foreheads were touching.

 

* * *

 

 

 _Mikasa has survived. Mikasa has survived,_ Annie thought obsessively. They were in the supply headquarters in Trost, in the heat of a battle that was partly caused by Annie. She had gone into her titan form and lured the titans to the hole Bertholdt had created. Then she returned to her human formed and saw the carnage unfold. The only peace away from her guilt was seeing Mikasa alive and well. _Mikasa has survived. Mikasa has survived. Mikasa has survived._

* * *

 

“You’re really doing this,” Annie said, more a detested statement than a question.

“Yes,” Mikasa said.

“For Eren.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe Annie was being so childish. “Eren is family,” she said. “I’ve sworn to protect him. That’s why I’m joining the Survey Corps.”

“Whatever,” Annie said and walked away.

That night at the graduation ceremony, Mikasa stood still as the commander dismissed anyone unwilling to join the Survey Corps. Annie passed her with a flickering glance and then was gone. Mikasa gave her commander her finest salute.

 

* * *

 

Annie hadn’t known pain at this level was possible. The hooks burrowed into her joints, immobilizing her. She stood in misery, captured, hands protecting the nape of her neck, hardening when the soldiers attempted to slice into her flesh. She couldn’t keep this up forever. She was already tiring.

And the waste she had again laid to humanity today…

Levi stood on her head, deep voice massaging fear into her mind. “Oh, right. There’s one thing I want to ask you. Could we cut off your limbs? They’d grow right back, right? I’m talking about your _real_ body. I’d get in trouble if you died, you see.”

She couldn’t stand it anymore. Her last resort was going to be a thousand times more painful than this. Annie wailed like the damned, summoning titans to destroy her form. She screamed for her father, for her village, for Mikasa, and all other conflictions that roiled within her. Annie screamed.

 

* * *

 

“I think,” Annie planted a kiss on Mikasa’s nose, “I’m falling for you.”

“Then fall hard. I don’t want to be the one to hit ground first.”

Annie laughed. “How morbid.”

“I’m serious. I want to get out of this alive,” Mikasa said with a grin.

“So what? I’ll break your fall?” Annie asked.

“Precisely.” Mikasa sighed. “It’s terrible, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Love.”

 

* * *

 

Mikasa shuddered at the screams of anguish issuing from deep in the forest. Sasha was on a tree limb nearby.

“That sound,” Sasha said. “It’s exactly the same. It’s the scream a cornered animal makes when it’s given up. You have to be on guard. ‘Til the very end of the hunt, Mikasa.”

“So you’re saying I should be careful.”

“Yes. A hundred times more than usual. If you underestimate the forest, you’ll die.”

“I’m not dying today,” Mikasa said, readying her gear, readying to destroy whatever monstrosity the forest held.

 

* * *

 

“You know I love you, right?” Mikasa said.

“I told you never to say that,” Annie said coldly.

“Why not?”

“Love is a sickness,” Annie said.

“So?”

 

* * *

 

Annie did her job. Eren was flanked by several soldiers: Gunther, Eld, Petra, and Oruo. Gunther was the first to die, a slash to sever his neck while she was back in human form. She did not watch the body drop, only heard the dull thump as it hit the ground, heard Squad Levi cry out in as much despair as rage.

She was blinded by the three soldiers, her arms laying useless at her side. Desperately she prioritized regeneration to her right eye and snatched Eld up with her mouth. Two down.

The next kill was Petra who she crushed against a tree. Then it was Oruo who attempted revenge in vain.

Annie had no time for remorse. She could weep and tear at her hair later. For now, she had bigger problems. With an enraged roar, Eren transformed.

 

* * *

 

“So say you ‘like’ me,” Annie said then.

“What if I don’t?” Mikasa said.

“I hate you.”

“I hate you too,” Mikasa said with a small smile.

 

* * *

 

Mikasa swore an oath as that _thing_ ripped Eren out of his titan form. _I will kill you. Whatever you are. Wherever you are. I will kill you, and you will die. By my blades. I swear it._

* * *

 

“I find you… strange,” Mikasa said with a tilt of the head.

“Should I be offended?”  Annie asked.

“Should I call you normal?”

“No,” Annie admitted.

“Then no,” Mikasa said and ruffled Annie’s hair. “Weirdo.” She got safely out of Annie’s reach.

“I am gonna kill you,” Annie said, chasing after Mikasa, laughing.

 

* * *

 

It hurt beyond belief to see Mikasa’s face contorted into such a blind fury. To be the cause of it pained Annie greatly. Still, she took Eren in her mouth and attempted to flee. She was only doing her job, she reminded herself.

 

* * *

 

“What are you staring at?” Annie asked her.

“Nothing.”

“ _What?_ Stop _grinning!”_

“Can’t help it,” Mikasa said, hiding her smile behind her hand.

 

* * *

 

Mikasa had won the battle with the female titan. Eren was safe. But she had injured Levi in her vain attempt to kill the titan. It was up to her now to annihilate it. No matter the cost. She set her eyes grimly toward the future. That is, until Armin found her.

“Mikasa,” he said. “You might want to sit down.”

“Whatever you can give me sitting I can take standing.”

Armin stood there, unsure of himself.

“Armin. Tell me.”

“It’s… the female titan. It’s Annie. Annie Leonhardt.”

“No," she said. "No. She can't be. Anyone but her."

“I know you and her were… are…”

“No. Stop. Just stop, Armin.” Mikasa hurried away, hiding her tears. It all made sense. From what she could see of the female titan’s fighting style, the color of her hair, Annie’s suspicious behavior. _Annie… Who would do this? Why... you?_

 

* * *

 

“Can I tell you a secret?” Annie asked.

“Sure,” Mikasa said.

“It’s embarrassing, but…” she said, looking away.

“I won’t laugh.”

“I want to see you.”

“What?” Mikasa asked.

“All of you. I want to see all of you.”

“Alright.”

“Alright?”

“Yes,” Mikasa said.

 

* * *

 

Annie stood at the top of the stairs. She hadn’t trusted Armin when she came with him. But she wanted to see her again. Even in these circumstances. Just one more time.

“…to shreds all over again… Female Titan.”

The words were like poison to Annie. To be reduced to a _thing._ A target. A beast.

She was desperate. She transformed, then crushed her fist through the top of the tunnel. It could have killed Eren, Armin, or even Mikasa. She cared. She cared deeply, but she flung her humanity aside. She had a job to do.

 

* * *

 

“Run away with me,” Annie said suddenly.

“What? Why? To where?” Mikasa asked.

Annie shrugged. “Beyond these walls. _Out_.”

“You sound like Eren.”

Annie scoffed. “Never say that again.”

 

* * *

 

“You know it’s true, right?” Mikasa forced herself to tell Eren. He couldn’t transform to fight, despite all his efforts.

“That Annie…” she said slowly, “is the female titan. So… doesn’t that mean you have to fight her?” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Or is it… some sort of special feelings are holding you back?” She needed to hear this as much as he did. "We must fight her, Eren.”

“I have a plan,” Armin said.

 

* * *

 

“And we’ll never come back here,” Annie said. “You and me versus world.”

“I’m in,” Mikasa said.

 

* * *

 

She destroyed… a church? She ran from the bodies crushed beneath her. She ran for the wall, for home, for freedom. She climbed, reaching ever upward in a frenzy. But… Mikasa was there. Sliced away at her hands with no mercy.

_Everything we did together. Everything. Was it nothing? Was it all… for this?_

“Annie,” Mikasa said, pushing her foot off of Annie’s forehead. “Fall.”

_Everything we did… despite this… it was something… it meant something… to a weak person… like me…_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me for more fun and angst at erurink.tumblr.com
> 
> My writing only tumblr is erurink-is-writing.tumblr.com
> 
> BIG thanks to RyuRaven for beta reading this and saving me from some horrible mistakes.
> 
> If you need your palate cleansed of angst, check out RyuRaven's awesome collection of 50+ (FIFTY PLUS) Mikannie fluff pieces.


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